“He was obviously a little before my time,” Nowitzki said of West. “But I love the history of the game, I watched plenty of games, watched him shoot. He’s really the first guy that had really a pure jump shot like that. He’s the man, he’s clutch. He’s the logo.”

All-time leading scorers, NBA history

Player

GP

PTS

PPG

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

1,560

38,387

24.6

Karl Malone

1,476

36,928

25.0

Michael Jordan

1,072

32,292

30.1

Kobe Bryant

1,239

31,617

25.5

Wilt Chamberlain

1,045

31,419

30.1

Shaquille O’Neal

1,207

28,596

23.7

Moses Malone

1,329

27,409

20.6

Elvin Hayes

1,303

27,313

21.0

Hakeem Olajuwon

1,238

26,946

21.8

Oscar Robertson

1,040

26,710

25.7

Dominique Wilkins

1,074

26,668

24.8

John Havlicek

1,270

26,395

20.8

Alex English

1,193

25,613

21.5

Kevin Garnett

1,329

25,310

19.0

Reggie Miller

1,389

25,279

18.2

Dirk Nowitzki

1,116

25,197

22.6

Jerry West

932

25,192

27.0

Patrick Ewing

1,183

24,815

21.0

Allen Iverson

914

24,368

26.7

Paul Pierce

1,108

24,103

21.8

Ray Allen

1,234

23,881

19.4

Tim Duncan

1,186

23,865

20.1

Charles Barkley

1,073

23,757

22.1

Robert Parish

1,611

23,334

14.5

Adrian Dantley

955

23,177

24.3

Through Tuesday, Nov. 12

Nowitzki, in his 16th season, now has 25,197 career points. With West’s 25,192 points behind him, Miller’s 25,279 points is reachable likely within the next three to five games. Soon, only 14 players will have scored more points than the big German, and only a handful are safe from Nowitzki’s final charge over the next few seasons.

“It’s another great milestone, but for now, got to keep working and that’s really about it,” said a rather subdued Nowitzki, whose re-tooled Mavs improved to 5-3. “Like I always say, all these milestones are great once my career is over.”

“Jerry West never shot a 3,” Carlisle said. “If there had been a 3-point line back then, this milestone would have come later — he would need more points. It’s a monumental achievement to pass a player like that. He’s going to pass more big names in the weeks and months to come.”

Miller, a player Carlisle coached near the end of his career in Indiana, certainly took advantage of the 3-ball. So has Kobe Bryant, one of only three active players in the top 16 on the all-time scoring list. Bryant, who has yet to play this season as he recovers from an Achilles tear, is No. 4 with 31,617 career points, just one of five players to reach 30,000 points. Bryant needs 676 points to supplant Michael Jordan at No. 3. Kevin Garnett, now with the Brooklyn Nets, is the other active player at No. 14 with 25,310 points.

Nowitzki is on pace to become the all-time leading scorer among international players. Houston Rockets Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, a native of Nigeria, leads that group. The Dream sits No. 9 all-time with 26,946 points. Nowitzki can catch him this season if he averages 21.3 points over the next 74 games.

He’s currently averaging 18.3 points on 47.5 percent shooting from the floor and 38.1 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Nowitzki is in the final year of his contract, but has said he plans to play another two or three seasons, and his intention is to do so with the Mavs.

Seemingly the only thing that can keep Nowitzki, 35, from finishing in the top eight, at least, on the all-time scoring list is health. He’s been extremely durable throughout his career, but has experienced right knee troubles the past few seasons, needing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee prior to last season.

It kept him out of 29 games and he finished the season with his lowest scoring average, 17.3 ppg, since his second season in the league. He snapped a streak of 11 consecutive All-Star Game appearances and Dallas ended a 12-year run of postseason play.

Speaking of health, Tuesday’s game came with a bit of a mysterious twist. Nowitzki played for the first time this season with a sleeve over a previously — as far as anybody knew — problem-free left knee. After the game he was coy about why he wore the sleeve when questioned.

“I’ll be all right. Yeah, I’ll be all right,” Nowitzki said. “We just passed six games in nine days, obviously, and had four in five before this. So you know, it is what it is.”

When asked if the knee was just sore from the arduous schedule, Nowitzki mumbled again that he’ll be all right and quickly glanced in the other direction toward another questioner.

He’ll have a couple days off to get some rest and reflect on all those points since he came into the league as a floppy-headed 20-year-old rookie. The Mavs don’t play again until they hit the road Friday night to face old pal LeBron James and the two-time champion Miami Heat.

12 Comments

I always looked at the all-time-scoring-list and thought Dirk would make it to the 30,000-club, but his injuries lost him many possible points. He should still make it to 6th with about 29,000 though, more than Shaq. Thats not bad either.

i realise that i’m lucky to saw all these great players in a relative “short” period of time (i started at 13 year old,in 1994, and with the 7 game epic new-york-houston finals i was in for life i guess)
malone, jordan, bryant, o’neal, olajuwon, garnett, miller, nowitski, ewing, iverson, pierce, duncan, barkley.
I know some older people will say “little guy i saw all the list play”, but stil. in 20 years it’s a good deal